CHAPTER 48: EXILES
In the beginning there was nothing. Then the universe exploded into existence. Sending six elemental crystals hurtling across infinity. These stones each controlled an essential aspect of existence. Space, Time, Reality, Power, Soul, and Mind.
Melissa Shield sighed to herself as she closed the comic book. Whatever answers she was looking for were not going to be found in an old comic. She thought that reading the books that inspired Midoriya's work would give her some insight into how he thinks. Which wasn't the case. He wasn't going around snapping his fingers and wiping out half the population. From what they knew, his infinity gauntlet didn't have the power to do that. Stuffing the comics into her bag she stood up from the bench and casually made her way to one of I-Island's resorts.
The place wasn't the fanciest. Those were usually for the wealthiest guests. This one was about average for those who visited the mobile island. Ideally a good place to hide right under everyone's noses. Melissa entered and headed straight to the elevator. Stopping at the top floor she stepped out and went straight down the hall to the corner suite. Using her key, she unlocked the door and entered.
"Bring any food this time?" She was immediately hit by that question as soon as the door closed. From the short old man once known as the hero Gran Torino.
"You have plenty of food here." Melissa countered. "Enough to last a year." She looked around at the multi room suite. The three staying here kept it remarkably clean all these months. She figured it was mostly Bakugou being a neat freak. "Where is everyone?"
"The idiot is in the other room on the phone." Torino supplied, talking about Toshinori. "The brat is downstairs in the gym." He meant Bakugou.
"Dad will be here soon." Melissa explained. "We discovered some new information that might help us understand things."
"What new information?" Toshinori came out of the bedroom, pocketing his personal phone.
"Did Togata, have any news?" She asked. Melissa was kept in the loop of information and knew about all their allies back in Japan.
"Not much." The skinny man answered. "I think he calls sometimes just to talk. With Nighteye gone he doesn't have anyone left he trusted complicitly. What did you and David find out?"
"Let's wait till he gets here." Melissa placed her bag on the table, fishing out her own personal notebook. She sat down on the couch and started jotting down ideas for future projects. Toshinori watched her work, having grown used to seeing this habit of hers. He felt proud that she was so smart and creative, but at the same time he felt a harsh dose of guilt. It reminded him a lot of Midoriya. Looking back on it, he didn't have to crush the boy's dreams so coldly. Had he bothered to take notice of how intelligent Midoriya was he could have guided him to a different path at least. If he could turn back time Toshinori would have probably introduced him to Melissa. They would have made a great team.
Downstairs in the resort's gym area a teenager with black spiker hair was busy doing pushups by himself. The other guests at the resort were used to his presence and didn't make conversation with him as they knew the boy preferred to keep to himself.
Unfortunately, due to Allmight's true form being made public, he was too recognizable and had to stay confined to the suite. Katsuki Bakugou on the other hand could get away with dying his hair black and not being noticed. However, he couldn't use his quirk, not once or his cover would be blown. When anyone asked, Katsuki was forced to lie and say he was quirkless. Sadly, that meant he could still train his body, but he could not train or practice his quirk in anyway. Glancing in the wall mirror he wasn't even phased when saw an image of Deku smirking down at him.
"May I ask what's the point of all this working out?" Deku wondered as he paced around Bakugou who did his best to ignore it. "What do you think is going to happen?" Deku stopped and bent till they were face to face. "Let me guess you think you'll go back to Japan, defeat me at some point, and become the hero of your little story." Bakugou refused to acknowledge this image that haunted him anymore. "You're so pathetic and weak. Do you truly believe you stand a chance?" Bakugou stood up, deciding to finish his work out early, and headed back upstairs to the suite he shared with Allmight and the old man.
Once inside their quarters he gave Allmight and the geezer a nod before heading into the bathroom for a shower, popping his tank top off on the way. Melissa looked up from her notes and caught a glimpse of Bakugou without a shirt and quickly looked away with a blush. The other blonde didn't notice her gaze and disappeared around the corner. Luckily a distraction came when her father entered.
"David." Toshinori greeted his friend. When they originally arrived on I-Island nearly five months ago, David had already set up this suite for them and had a plan to smuggle them in within a shipment of building materials. After they had settled in, Toshinori decided to come clean to David and his daughter concerning One for All. He told them everything. Something he should have done a long time ago.
"Doing well I see." The engineer greeted him back. "Sorry I had to miss our last meeting, but there was important work to be done. I couldn't just drop it, or it would seem suspicious." David quickly pulled out a digital tablet from his leather bag. "We do have some potential new data that I think we should discuss." Patching into the large monitor screen on the wall of the living room, David sat down next to his daughter. "Also did you see Midoriya's latest speech?"
"Yeah." The skinny former hero replied without much enthusiasm. "I will say. Young Midoriya is looking very healthy and strong." He wasn't the only one that noticed that Izuku had grown taller and started to fill out more. Now that the dust had settled over Japan, the topic of Izuku Midoriya's love life started to make rounds across the media outlets. Many spread rumors that former U.A student Ochako Uraraka was his secret girlfriend. A comment which the young director and hero in training repeatedly denied.
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Bakugou came back in, fully dressed, having just finished his shower.
"Just stating a fact." Toshinori tried to deflect. "Its just good that he clearly keeps up with his training and isn't letting the power destroy himself." Gran Torino rolled his eyes at that. Figures he still didn't fully see Midoriya as his arch enemy. The explosive blonde didn't respond and instead sat on the couch next to Allmight.
"Please tell us you have something new for us." The old man grumbled at the younger generations that sat around him.
"Well, we already know where he got the idea for his gauntlet." Melissa supplied as she tossed the comic book on the coffee table.
"Keh, damn Nerd." Bakugou grumbled quietly to himself. Of course Deku reads comic books.
"Yes, we already know this much." Toshinori sighed in exhaustion. They'd spent the last few months going around in circles on this topic. Hopefully now they might have something more concrete. "We just don't know how he made it all work."
"We might have figured out where Midoriya got the idea for his stones." David brought up on screen a picture of a man. "This is Doctor Klaus Handschuh. He started something years ago called project Prometheus."
"The Titan who gave the fire of the gods to the mortals." Melissa added, giving meaning to name of the project.
"The goal was to grant artificial quirks to quirkless people, so they could fit in with the new human society." David continued.
"Why would he want to do that?" Toshinori wondered. "What was his end goal?" He had hoped it wasn't for nefarious reasons.
"His son was born quirkless and ultimately committed suicide, due to ostracization and torment from his peers." That had Bakugou flinching, eyes wide in horror. "Doctor Handschuh started the project as a way to honor his son and help other quirkless people out there."
"I'm sensing it didn't go well." Gran Torino realized. Having never heard of this science experiment.
"Ultimately the project was deemed a complete failure." David summarized. "The liquid injections only worked for a few seconds then dissipated. We think that Midoriya figured out a way around this by converting the serum into a solid form and using the gauntlet to bypass the temporary quirk infusion."
"Its quite brilliant." Melissa couldn't help but compliment Midoriya for his ingenuity. "If Doctor Handschuh was still alive, he'd probably be kicking himself for not thinking of it."
"The data was published after the project shut down, so it would have been easy for Izuku Midoriya to get his hands on it." Her father went on while rubbing his forehead in frustration. The screen displayed the original complex formula for Prometheus, something the two older heroes and former student did not understand in the slightest. "What I don't get is how he got from this." The next image showed a close-up view of the infinity gauntlet that Izuku always wore on his left hand. "To this."
"He must have started with Prometheus. That's the only research that comes close to what he's done here." Melissa was also frustrated at not being able to figure this out either.
"Young Midoriya is brilliant." Toshinori coughed into his hand. "All for One called him a genius unburdened by the ego and arrogance that a quirk would give him." The image on the screen zoomed out showing Midoriya's whole body. "I hate to say it, but I agree."
"The boy's a parasite." Gran Torino said disdainfully, the gaunt man glared at him for his words. "A bottom feeder who drinks up the hard work and talent of others. Propping himself up on the shoulders of giants. Stealing their power and strength for his own. He's no better than All for One. Just another villain that we need to defeat." Toshinori finally had enough and went into the other room to get a box that he recently had Mirio and Nezu retrieve from his office and secretly smuggle to him.
"That's not Midoriya." The former hero pointed at the screen. "This…is Midoriya." He plopped the box down on the table for everyone to see. Opening it he revealed it was full of notebooks and papers. All given to him by Inko Midoriya, his mother, during the investigation of her son. Melissa took one and started to flip through it, seeing the ideas for support devices that Midoriya had come up with over the years. Bakugou noticed the lightly burned hero analysis notebook and frowned to himself. "This is who he really is, underneath all that. Before the gauntlet, he was just a boy who wanted to help people and do the right thing. He started out just wanting to make a difference."
"What are you saying?" David asked.
"Midoriya is under the delusion that power is all that matters in the world." The gaunt man explained sadly. "It started with me and then All for One made it worse." He breathed a sighed of remorse. "He thinks the only way to achieve anything or inspire others is through power and force. Which is wrong, so very wrong. I didn't see it before, but I see it now."
"How does this help us?" The old man asked as he glanced at a sketch for a mechanized hero costume.
"I've been studying these for the past week now and I've come to an understanding. These notebooks represent Midoriya's hopes and dreams." Toshinori explained. "They are also a window into his mind. Through these we can understand how he thinks."
"I see." David realized. "If we can figure out what he's going to do next we can plan ahead and hopefully put an end to it."
"What does it matter if we can outthink him." Gran Torino argued. "None of us can beat him in a fight and Yagi here doesn't have one for all anymore. As long as he has that gauntlet, there's nothing that can stand against him." That put a stop to whatever thoughts they had about defeating Midoriya.
"I don't want to hurt him though." Toshinori spoke up. "I want to help him."
"Help him?" David was shocked to hear that. "He stole your quirk. Dragged your name through the mud. Destroyed your legacy. How could you still want to help him?"
"He's just a boy. A misguided boy. He's not evil." Toshinori argued back with his friend. "He doesn't understand the full consequences of what he's doing. Or that his ideal hero society is just as fragile as mine was." While they debated this Melissa flipped through another one of Midoriya's notebooks. Her eyes stopped at a specific page that said 'Quirkless Hero' at the top. Beneath the words was a drawing of a suit made for that kind of hero with various ideas for equipment.
"I think I see your point." Melissa said quietly, looking with sadness at the page. Such brilliance and creativity, smothered by a wanton power lust.
"Young Bakugou." Toshinori started, getting the boy's attention from the burned notebook. "You were his childhood friend. You've known him longer than anybody."
"Who told you that?" Katsuki narrowed his eyes. "I knew Deku. The mumbling little quirkless nerd, who dreamed of being a hero with no ability to back it up. The nerd that I and everyone else bullied." He told them honestly. "I don't know this guy." He looked at the screen, at the image of the now taller and broader Midoriya. "The villain Apotheosis. The director of the HRD. The guy that beat Allmight! I don't know who the hell this is!" He shouted at them.
"Calm down young man." Gran Torino scolded him. "Screaming isn't going to get us anywhere."
"Neither is name calling." Toshinori added, bring up his sensei's earlier slandering of the boy.
"Bakugou." Melissa got the other blonde's attention. "You fought him once before."
"I didn't fight him." Katsuki spat. "He wiped my face with a junkyard, while the idiot girl gave away that damn stone." He shuttered, remembering the feeling of the gauntlet's power about to rip him to pieces.
"What was so special about that particular stone?" David asked.
"All for One." The skinny man told them. "He somehow managed to copy the quirk of my arch enemy and put it into that stone in the palm of the gauntlet. The purple one."
"So that's how he's stealing quirks." David realized. "How do we beat that, when he also has one for all, the only quirk that could stop all for one?"
"Midoriya is more conservative with the quirk than that man was." Toshinori was relieved for that. "He doesn't go around taking any quirk that he fancies. He uses it as a punishment against heroes he deems unworthy of the title. Rather grim, but at least he's leaving them alive." He thought back to the former number two hero Endeavor. The man no longer had his quirk, but he seemed to be using his time to attempt to mend his family back together according to Mirio.
"Strangely enough, he doesn't seem to use One for All that much." Melissa added bringing up some footage of him using the infinity gauntlet. "And when he does use it, its nowhere near as strong as when Uncle Toshi had it."
"I don't think he can use One for All to its fullest extent." The skinny man explained to them. "Remember what I told you the first time he tried it."
"You said it nearly tore his arm off." David answered.
"Exactly." Allmight nodded. "That last time we fought, Midoriya used one hundred percent of the gauntlet's power. When we clashed, I noticed his body was shaking uncontrollably."
"Do you think…?" Melissa wondered out loud.
"His body can't handle the full power, can it?" Bakugou realized. "Beating Allmight in that state could have killed him I bet."
"He's still training, if his bigger frame is anything to go by." Gran Torino figured. "Which means we have a limited time before his body gets to the point where he can use the full power of the gauntlet without risking his life."
"Dammit." David cursed. He now had to factor this in with his plans and ideas. They continued the meeting, going over what little battle data they had, Nezu's secret investigation, and Mirio's findings coming up short. They even went through a few failed simulations using the abilities they knew the gauntlet had.
"Is it alright if I take a closer look at these?" Melissa asked, gesturing to the box of Midoriya's notebooks.
"Just take one at a time." Toshinori told her. "I'd like to keep track of all of them. Can't have these getting out of our hands." That could be disastrous.
"I'll just start with the earliest." Melissa fished through the box, until she found the one dated back the farthest.
"I'm borrowing this." Bakugou plucked the burned one from the box. The meeting ended with an update on project Hercules. David and Melissa's solution to giving Allmight a fighting chance.
Afterwards, Melissa and her father quietly left the room to return to their own dwelling. The blonde went to her own room where she took at the notebook Allmight provided and started to flip through it. Supposedly Midoriya was very young when he wrote this one. Most of it seemed to be just basic observations on heroes and their quirks. A lot of questions with no answers. However, she started to notice a change in the notes. She could almost see Midoriya start to over analyze the quirks a bit. Going into details and wild speculation towards the end of the notebook. On the last page Melissa took notice of a personal note that he jotted down.
'Observing from a distance isn't working. I need to get closer.'
That was very true. Sometimes you had to get up close and personal if you wanted to understand how something worked. Melissa pondered more over Midoriya's thoughts and aspirations in these journals.
Back in his room Bakugou was busy staring at the opened burned notebook he borrowed. He remembered that day. He remembered what he said Deku. He felt sick the more he remembered.
'Dammit Deku. It wasn't supposed to go like this.' The explosive blonde scowled at the book. He could hear Deku's voice laughing at him in his head.
ONE WEEK LATER
Melissa had spent most of her free time going through Midoriya's notebooks. Every page, every design, every analysis on quirks, heroes and even villains. Even his little notes to self that he jotted down. She studied his thought process thoroughly and was somewhat confident in her understanding of him. Like Allmight she truly and fully believed there was a good person in there somewhere. After reading through these books Mellissa concluded that the villain Apotheosis, the head of HRD was just a façade for a lonely and insecure boy who just wanted to do what he believed was right. The problem was that his sense of right and wrong was now deeply twisted and corrupted under the delusion that the ends justified the means.
He still needed to be stopped, but what Midoriya also needed was understanding. Someone who could see things from his perspective and show him a better path towards his dreams. That's why she was still trying to reverse engineer his infinity gauntlet, in hopes it would reveal a flaw or weakness.
Melissa continued working on possible iterations of the Prometheus Formula when her phone suddenly vibrated interrupting her thoughts. It was a text from her dad that simply said 'Emergency Meeting!' That raised a red flag in her mind. Something bad must be happening or is about to happen. Rushing out of her workshop she quickly made her way to the other side of I-Island and into the resort. Once inside the suite she was surprised to see her father was already there and about to explain the sudden raise for alarm.
"We have problem." David started out ominously. "Midoriya is coming here to I-Island."
"What!?" Toshinori suddenly coughed up blood.
"He's attending the expo." David corrected. That didn't lower the tension but increased it.
"Why didn't you just start with that?" Bakugou had to stop himself from yelling. Even he panicked when he heard that. He could feel Deku's smirk inside his head, saying two words 'Miss me?'.
"He's coming and he's bringing display models of his Titan robots along with a few other innovations." David finished. "That's what the big wigs of I-Island said."
"Well, that's a relief." The skinny former hero sighed, starting to relax, but he was faking it.
"A relief!?" Torino argued. "Midoriya is going to be a stone's throw from us in three days."
"Yes, but he doesn't know you three are here." Melissa countered. "As far as we know, he has no reason to suspect that you are here. This expo attendance seems like an unfortunate coincidence."
"We can never be sure with Midoriya." David looked thoughtful as he mulled this over. "He's outwitted professional heroes and their allies before. Hell, he forced the entire Japanese government to bend its knee."
"Is he bringing any of his 'agents' with him?" Toshinori asked. They'd been informed that Midoriya's special masked agents were secretly the villains known as Stain, Dabi and Toga.
"From what I was able to gather, no." David answered. "No agents, no drones, and he isn't even bringing an assistant. Its just him."
"And that's enough." Toshinori said with a hint of concern.
"Little brat. Treating a trip to the world's biggest tech expo like some sort of vacation." The old man grumbled.
"We have to look at this in a more positive light." Melissa stepped forward. "All eyes are going to be on him during the event. Even if he had ulterior motives for coming here, which I'm almost positive he doesn't, he won't be able to do anything with so many people watching. That's the curse of being so famous."
"Better be safe though. You three will need to stay put in this suite the entire time Midoriya is here." David would also be putting some hidden security measures in place that would warn him should the boy approach this resort. The group decided to make a few more preparations for the expo, which included having project Hercules on standby should things turn messy. Bakugou silently stepped out onto the balcony, making sure the curtain kept the occupants obscured. After a few minutes Melissa followed him, leaving the adults to talk and make plans.
"You've been awfully quiet about this news." She spoke while sitting next to him.
"What was I supposed to do?" Bakugou asked while gazing at I-Island. "Scream? Yell? Blow up the room with my quirk?" He held up his hand and made a couple of small sparks that popped and then fizzled out like firecrackers.
"Are you worried?" The blonde girl questioned.
"I'm not scared of Deku." Bakugou denied.
"That's not what I asked." Melissa said perceptively. She stared at him for a moment then decided to try a different topic. "You knew him when you were kids. Tell me, what was he like back then?"
"I already told you guys. I knew Deku. I don't know who this other guy is." He continued to deny.
"They're the same person." Melissa replied, in a matter-of-fact tone. "And I want to know…what he was like when you were around him back then."
"You read his creepy notebooks." Bakugou spat. "That's all you need to know." Melissa huffed and sat down in one of the available chairs. She meant on more personal level that she wanted to know Midoriya.
"You're mentioned a lot in those notebooks by the way." She suddenly said. The angry teen turned to finally look at her.
"For many of them it's very positive." She smiled. "Gets a bit resentful towards the last one. After spending the last several months around you. Not that hard to see why he kicked the crap out of you." She tried to rile him up and get some answers, but he remained solemn and subdued.
"I can imagine." Katsuki had read through the notebook that he exploded. He wasn't even mentioned in that one. That said a lot about what Deku started to think about him right before he became a villain. "You guys keep asking me what I know about Deku. I'm telling you in all honesty I don't think I ever really knew Deku to begin with. At least I don't think I ever understood him."
"What do you mean?" The blonde inventor stared at him.
"I never noticed how smart he was. Never bothered to notice or care back then." Katsuki sighed as he looked down. "Back when we were kids. I won a raffle for a special rare Allmight figure. It was a twelve-inch gold figure that said his popular catchphrases to celebrate the anniversary of his debut." Melissa remained silent and just let him talk and reminisce. "Me being the stupid brat I was, couldn't stop showing it off to everyone. While playing we dropped it down the steps of the school and broke it." Bakugou laughed humorlessly. "Deku said he wanted to try and fix it. I was so mad that I didn't even listen to him, but I let him have the pieces of the toy and just stomped off." He paused, trying to fully recollect this moment. "A week went by and then Deku comes into class looking giddy, like he's about to burst. I kept asking him what crawled up his ass, but he wouldn't say. Finally during recess, he revealed it. He had successfully fixed the Allmight figure. Not only that, but he also improved it. Deku put these tiny blue lights in the eyes. He even added more catchphrases to damn toy! How the hell does a second grader figure that out!?"
"That's impressive." Melissa finally spoke, complimenting the younger Midoriya's small feet.
"I didn't react well back then." Katsuki felt sick remembering what he did. "I used my quirk and blew the toy to bits while it was in Deku's hands and then stormed off like a brat." He didn't see Deku's face, but he remembered hearing him softly crying over the cruel laughter of the other classmates.
"Why did you do that?" Melissa quietly asked him. It seemed like such an unnecessarily mean act to do to a childhood friend.
"Maybe I was jealous of how Deku was able to do something I couldn't when he didn't have a quirk." Katsuki shrugged. "Or maybe I'm just an asshole and I've always been an asshole." He growled out while clenching his fists tightly.
"I don't think you are an asshole." Melissa said with all honestly. "However, you were a huge asshole. To him especially. You should apologize, if you ever see Midoriya again."
"I think we're passed that point." That was a bitter pill to swallow for Bakugou. He then turned his head to lock eyes with her. "You wanted to know what he was like back then. Deku was a gibbering nerd that liked to figure things out. He was an endlessly pouring mind that had no quirk or ability to make his dreams into reality." He scowled harshly when he said that. Who he was angry with, she had no idea.
"Thank you." Melissa watched him leave the balcony to go back into the suite where the adults were still planning and theorizing. A lot of good that will do.
'We'll never get anywhere like this.' Melissa realized as she stared at Izuku's notebook. He was right in that standing back and observing from a distance wasn't the way to go about achieving your goals. Action had to be taken. Perhaps dangerous and maybe drastic action. Someone needed to get close to Midoriya and figure him out on a personal level. A plan was forming in her mind. A plan that Melissa knew neither uncle Toshi nor her father would agree with. Which means she was going to have to keep it to herself.
HRD CITY OFFICE
Shinso stared up at the imposing building. Still looked as new as the day it was finished being built. At first, he wasn't sure about this, but recently after Aizawa told him he still wasn't ready for the hero class for the twentieth time, he decided enough was enough. He wanted, he needed, someone to give him the opportunity to prove that he could be a hero. He wanted the same privileges and benefits that Todoroki, Iida and Uraraka had. One of the things that made Midoriya so popular in the public's eye was his openness to giving people who were willing to work, to learn, to change, a chance to be something more than they were. Midoriya had already extended a hand to him once before. Time to find out if that offer was still good.
Shinso approached the lobby doors and walked inside. It was the middle of the day so there were quite a few people here. There was a security check he had to pass, as it was a government department that he had just entered. That's what the general studies student thought until a security guard suddenly waved at him to come over. The guard led him around the metal detectors, bypassing the security check entirely. The man didn't say anything, he merely pointed the boy towards the front desk.
'Creepy.' Shinso thought to himself as he walked over to the desk. He was about to open his mouth when the woman working the desk spoke ahead of him.
"Hitoshi Shinso" She smiled at him. "The elevator is over there. The director is expecting you." She pointed him towards the lifts. He stared at her curiously before silently going along with it. Before he could even push the up button the doors automatically opened for him.
'Also creepy.' He noted again. Shinso realized he wasn't given a floor number. That didn't seem to matter as the doors closed and the elevator took him all the way to the top floor. 'Even more creepy.' Exiting the lift, he walked into the empty open corridor seeing only a set of fancy looking double doors at the end. He figured that must be Midoriya's office. Shinso made it the doors and was about to knock when a red glow opened them for him.
"Please come in." Izuku called from his desk. The red stone on his gauntlet glowing ominously. "I'm so happy you came Shinso. Have a seat." He waved his left arm and dragged a chair from a nearby table over to the front of his desk using the reality stone.
"This is all creepy as hell." Shinso finally said what was on his mind. Izuku just laughed and waved him over.
"I had my heads of security install this new facial recognition program to the system." The seventeen-year hold director chuckled. "I asked them to have it alert me should you ever come by our main office.
"You've been expecting me?" Shinso raised a brow at that. Midoriya always seemed to just know everything.
"My doors are always open for people like us." Izuku tried to sound friendly.
"Us?"
"The small, the weak, the talentless, the ignored." Emerald eyes watched the other boy sit down across from him. "Though let's not waste any more time. U.A and Aizawa have probably done enough of that. That's why you're here isn't it?" Perceptive as usual.
"How serious were you about helping me become a hero?" Shinso asked, not one to beat around the bush. The tall green haired teen just chuckled.
"Let me show you something." Izuku pushed a button on his keyboard and suddenly a holographic semitransparent 3D image was projected on top of his desk.
"Is that…me?" Shinso asked as he stared at the holographic image of himself, but decked out with some fancy support gear, with a costume that looked like something a pro would wear.
"I started working on this in whatever spare time I had since that day we met at the cultural festival." Izuku smiled at him. "Do you like it? This is the kind of hero I imagined you could be."
"I do." For the first time since he arrived at the HRD Shinso allowed himself to smile. He wasn't sure he was making the right choice when he arrived, but he was definitely sure now.
God I have been in this horrible depressing funk for two years now. You ever get in your car, drive to an empty parking lot, turn your music up and just scream your lungs out? Been doing that a little too much. I really you all are doing better than me out there in the world. Writing anything is actually a nice temporary escape from it all.
Finally introduced Melissa. I really liked her from the movie and I'm glad she's canon now. Originally this chapter was just a collection of flashbacks covering the time they spent on I-island, but I really didn't like it.
Couldn't find a good place for that Shinso scene, been holding on to it for a while, so I put it here.
Also thanks for all the alternate code names everyone. I decided to drop the current ones I have for Todoroki, Iida and Uraraka, but I'll go back and put the Greek mythology ones in when the story is ultimately finished, along with a bunch of other things I want to change. The code names for Stain, Dabi and Toga, will stay for now since they're role in the HRD is a dirty little secret, but I'll change those to after the end. On that note, what could Shinso's codename be? Anything from Greek Mythology. Love to hear it.
I'm hoping to have some more free time during the summer. If I can get ahead of my bills. If so I can get away with working less hours. We will see though.
Thanks for reading.